Ryan's District Boards

Department of Health and Human Services said on Tuesday a federal contract worth up to $42.3 million would help accelerate testing of an experimental Ebola virus treatment that is being developed by privately held Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc. The agency said an initial 18-month contract worth $24.9 million had been approved by its Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response and that the contract could be extended up to a total of $42.3 million Mapp, based in San Diego, will manufacture a small amount of the drug, called ZMapp, for early stage safety studies and for animal studies needed to prove its effectiveness and safety in people, the agency said in a statement. It binds to proteins on the Ebola virus and triggers the immune system to destroy them. Mapp previously developed two different cocktails of antibodies, but they protected only 43 percent of monkeys that were given the drug as late as five days after infection. On Friday, scientists reported that ZMapp had cured all 18 lab monkeys infected with Ebola in one trial, including those suffering fever and hemorrhaging that were hours from death.